I have a collection of about 280 images I created by shooting 6x6 cm negatives with my Nikon as RAW images and then developing with DxO (i.e, ~140 images in each category). Because they were old negatives, I needed to assign the dates the original photos were taken. (As I now know, the whole subject of EXIF/XMP dates is rather complicated, as discussed in the Metadata Working Group Guidelines.)
Unfortunately, I managed to assign the desired (old) date to 'XMP xmp\Created Date' (which should be the date/time the image was created by the camera) instead of to 'XMP Photoshop\Date Subject Created'.
What would be the best way to swap the contents of these two metadata fields?
You can do it like this:
exiftool "-xmp:datecreated<xmp:createdate" "-xmp:createdate<xmp:datecreated" FILE
- Phil
Thanks; however, that didn't seem to work. The original metadata field values are unchanged, not swapped, in my test file.
I tried to upload the NEF (9052 KB) but the upload failed....
If the test file would be helpful, how can I send you a download link?
What do you mean by "didn't seem to work"? How did you look at the metadata afterwards? Did ExifTool say the file was changed? If so, what was changed? Try adding the -v3 option when writing to get details about what ExifTool is doing.
Also, what is the output of this command on the original file?:
exiftool -xmp:datecreated -xmp:createdate FILE
(ie. does it contain the information we are trying to swap?)
- Phil
The problem seems to the fields selected:
exiftool -xmp:datecreated -xmp:createdate test_.nef
Date Created : 1953:11:01 12:00:00Z
Create Date : 1953:11:01 12:00:00Z
No wonder the data in the file didn't change! (Which is what I meant by 'ExifTool didn't seem to work'.)
exiftool -v3 "-xmp:datecreated<xmp:createdate" "-xmp:createdate<xmp:datecreated" test_.nef
======== test_.nef
Setting new values from test_.nef
Writing XMP-photoshop:DateCreated
Writing XMP-xmp:CreateDate
Rewriting test_.nef...
Editing tags in: IFD0 TIFF XMP
Creating tags in: IFD0 TIFF XMP
FileType = NEF
MIMEType = image/x-nikon-nef
ExifByteOrder = MM
Rewriting IFD0
Rewriting SubIFD
Rewriting SubIFD1
Rewriting XMP
- XMP-xmp:CreateDate = '1953-11-01T12:00:00Z'
+ XMP-xmp:CreateDate = '1953-11-01T12:00:00Z'
- XMP-photoshop:DateCreated = '1953-11-01T12:00:00Z'
+ XMP-photoshop:DateCreated = '1953-11-01T12:00:00Z'
Rewriting IPTC
[nothing changed]
Rewriting Photoshop
Rewriting ExifIFD
Rewriting MakerNoteNikon
Rewriting PreviewIFD
Rewriting VRInfo
Rewriting PictureControlData
Rewriting WorldTime
Rewriting ISOInfo
Rewriting UnknownInfo
Rewriting ShotInfoD90
Rewriting ColorBalance0211
Rewriting LensData0204
Rewriting FlashInfo0103
Rewriting MultiExposure
Rewriting AFInfo2
Rewriting FileInfo
Rewriting GPS
Copying 2 image data blocks
1 image files updated
I've attached an ExifTool dump of the file metadata. The specific fields from the dump I need to swap (I think) are:
[Composite] Create Date : 1953:11:01 12:00:00.00
[Composite] Date/Time Original : 2011:10:15 13:12:46.00
[Composite] Modify Date : 2013:03:22 16:15:28.00
That is, the
[Composite] Date/Time Original should be 1953:11:01 12:00:00.00 (the date/time the original photo was taken)
and the
[Composite] Create Date should be 2011:10:15 13:12:46.00 (the date/time I photographed the original photo with my digital camera).
Of course there are several metadata fields with these date/times in the field; my problem seems to be choosing the right ones, and using the right syntax for them in an ExifTool command.
OK. I think that reading FAQ number 3 (https://exiftool.org/faq.html#Q3) should answer your questions.
- Phil